Month: July 2009

A SHANNON businesswoman has won a prestigious accolade in fash- ion design. Michelle Carrig won the award for Outstanding Creativity as part of her City & Guilds Diploma in Fashion Design and Tailoring at the Mallow College in Cork.

She has operated her own dress- making business in Shannon for the past six years, having taken a ‘Start your own business’ course with the Clare County Enterprise Board. Three years ago, she decided to take a City & Guilds course, culminating in her being honoured with the ac- colade. She also won the Designer of the Year award in evening wear last year. She was honoured with the lat-

est award because of her work with lace. “I incorporated it into all of my designs,’ she said.

She is no stranger to dressmaking. Her mother, grandmother and great grandmother were all interested in this area. “Everything was knitted for us and everything was made for us. My Holy Communion dress was made. I learned everything from my mother and my grandmother,” she said.

‘T had the art background and I de- cided when my son (Jack, now aged 13) was going to school, I wanted to be at home for him. I had the ability and I saw a niche in the market. I set up in my mother’s back kitchen over six years ago and then moved into the workshop,” she said.

She enjoyed the work and then de- cided to ascertain what kind of ability she had by taking the course, which she was very enthusiastic about. “I put a lot of effort, time and commit- ment into my collection and the day I handed it over to the examiners I felt that a part of me went with it. I really poured myself, my dreams, my sweat and sometimes tears into it so it was fantastic that the examiners recog- nised this by presenting me with the Outstanding Creativity award over 140 designs shown at a recent fashion show to over 600 people,’ she said.

Acknowledging that successfully completing the course was her target, Michelle said that this section of her course work allowed her to express herself and her ideas. It also enabled

her to put into practice many of the techniques that she learned. Michelle also made time to complete a milli- nery course and can design a head- piece to match any outfit.

A native of Limerick, Michelle moved to Shannon at a young age. Her business, Material Girl, is lo- cated at Caragh Park in Shannon. While she thoroughly enjoys her job, she is anticipating the future. “I can see myself teaching sewing and de- sign. That would be my ambition,” she said. Michelle can be contacted on michelle_carrig@yahoo.co.uk.

ONE of the largest collections of ar- chived traditional Irish music in the mid-west was officially opened in Ennis last Friday.

Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O Cuiv joined with members of the Board of Meitheal na hAbhna and man- agement at the opening of Cois na hAbhna Regional Resource Centre.

Cois na hAbhna is the regional base of Comhaltas Ceoiltoiri Eire- ann (CCE) for the Meitheal region.

It houses the Comhaltas Regional Archive in its Sean Reid Library. The venue also has an auditor1um for céili dances and concerts, a tradi- tional-style Irish kitchen, a bar/teach

cheoil where lively weekly sessions are held and classrooms for music lessons.

Speaking last week, Cois na hAbh- na manager, Doreen Norris said the venue has been busy since re-open- ing in 2007.

‘“We’ve been pretty busy. We have céilis, workshops and classes. It’s been fairly busy for the past two years. September to May is usually busier for us. There is a lot more go- ing on but we still have a few things happening in the summer. We have céilis on Wednesdays and Fridays,” she said.

The original Cois na hAbhna build- ing was constructed during the early 1980s by local Comhaltas members, who worked on a voluntary basis, and

was officially opened on St Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1983.

Redevelopment work on the Gort Road venue began in October 2006 and concluded in May 2007. The building was extended to include a teach cheoil and new conference room facilities.

The jewel in the crown is the Cois na hAbhna regional archive, one of several established by CCE through- out the country, to record collect and preserve the cultural heritage of parts of Munster.

Since work began in 1990 over 1,500 hours of recordings of mu- sic, songs, dance and folklore from Clare, Galway and Limerick have been collected in the form of 78s, LPs, reel to reel tapes, cds, videos,

books and photos.

Four main collections form the ma- jority of the archive’s holdings.

The Culturlann archive collections consists of recordings made and collected by Seamus MacMathuna, timire cheoil, CCE, covering a peri- od from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

The Vaughan collection is of a se- ries of private recordings made by Joe Vaughan from Miltown Malbay during the 1960s. The McNamara collection consists of recordings made by Martin McNamara from Scariff in the 1960s and 1970s. The fourth collection, the Field record- ings, 1s composed of material gath- ered by volounteers and participants in the ‘Meet the Musician Project’ since 1991.

SQUALLS of rain did nothing to spoil the festival fun in Killaloe at the weekend as visitors turned out in droves to enjoy the annual Brian Boru celebrations.

A packed programme of events in- cluding a fireworks display, a gig-rig, a treasure hunt and a pig on a spit went ahead undaunted, John Grimes of the festival organising commit- tee said. “We were delighted with the turnout. The town was packed all weekend and we got very posi- tive feedback from the people who or bn alse

“Particularly with the weather be- ing the way it was, we were worried that people might not come out but they did and it all worked out really well – we didn’t have to cancel any- debeetcam

There was all the fun and colour of the parade as well as power-boat and dragon-boat racing.

The Lakeside Hotel are very in- volved in this year’s festival and organised a treasure hunt, the Brian Boru Quest, based on the sort of clues given in the Da Vinci Code.

And the food and cooking fair which proved so popular last year went ahead again as festival goers sampled local culinary delights.

And the beautiful young things turned out for Killaloe’s answer to Oxygen on Saturday night when the Plectrum music festival, organised by the local youth club, was in full swing.

The Féis Ceoil also proved to be a huge success and the quality and variety of music on offer all over the town meant there was something for everyone to listen to.

SCHOOL OF HAIRDRESSING

MUSIC lovers from all over the world have turned their attention on Miltown Malbay this week for the Willie Clancy Summer School. As the summer school approaches it’s 5Oth year in operation, thousands of music lovers have descended on west Clare for what is the highlight of many peoples traditional music year.

Almost 1,000 musicians and danc- ers, young and old will attend classes on each day of the school – with mil- lions of euro likely to be generated for local businesses.

Some of the remaining highlights include tonight’s whistle and flute recital featuring Mary Bergin, Paul McGrattan and a host of others, a lecture by Len Graham on the Ulster song tradition in English on Wednes- day night and a night of old style dancing led by Michael Tubridy on Thursday night.

On Friday night Noel Hill and Mar- ty O’Keeffe will host a concertina recital while on Saturday the Ceol- choirm Mhor will feature a top class line-up of traditional musicians, like- ly to be the highlight of the week.

Meanwhile, those not fortunate enough to be able to make it up to Miltown Malbay for the week can still get a flavour of the festivi- ties by tuning into RTE Raidio na

Gaeltachta will be broadcasting live from the festival all week.

Indeed, Raidio na Gaeltachta have a long association with the festival, having broadcast live from Miltown Malbay each year since the festival started back in 1973.

‘There were no live broadcasts in the early days, but that changed in the eighties with improvements in technology,’ said Meaiti Jo Shéa- muis, Music Editor at RTE Raidi6 na EF YOlerel alee

“I remembers broadcasting live from a national school six miles out- side Miltown Malbay, Scoil Naisiun- ta Sliabh na Leice, because it was the most elevated place they could find — which we needed to be able to get a good signal.

“I remember on another occasion recording a traditional singer in out- door toilets, as it was too windy to record in the open air. As technology improved, live broadcasts were pos- sible from the town, and Raidio na Gaeltachta used to broadcast from a caravan situated outside the hall.

AER LINGUS hopes to increase services on the Shannon-London Heathrow service within a matter of weeks.

The airline recommenced flights on the route at the end of March with a morning and evening flight each way but reduced capacity ensured it was the least popular service for passen- gers travelling to London during the months of April and May.

An Aer Lingus spokesman said the Shannon-Heathrow route “is performing well and is in line with our other bases in Dublin, Cork and Belfast”.

The question of additional flights on the Shannon-Heathrow route “is subject to securing the slot. We don’t have it nailed down, but we expect to confirm it very soon”.

The confirmation could come about in a matter of weeks.

Figures from the UK Civil Avia- tion Authority show that because of the limited capacity, a total of 11,381 travelled on the Shannon-Heath- row route during the month of April — its first month back in service. This compares to 44,820 travelling to Heathrow from Cork during the Same month and the 137,233 travel- ling to Heathrow from Dublin.

23,/78 travelled on the Ryanair service to London Stansted during April and a further 16,246 travelled on the Ryanair service to Gatwick the same month.

11,838 travelled on the Aer Lingus Shannon-Heathrow service in May and this compares to 24,536 flying with Ryanair to London Stansted and 17,160 to London Gatwick.

The Aer Lingus decision to end the Shannon-Heathrow service in August 2007 provoked a storm of protest in the Dail and the mid-west region.

Fianna Fail TD, Timmy Dooley said yesterday that the addition of new flights on the Shannon-Heath- row route “will significantly add to the level of passenger traffic on the route”’.

“At the moment, the time slots are

not good. The first flight 1s at around Qam and the business community would need a much earlier flight.”

He said the addition of a mid-morn- ing flight would allow transatlan- tic passengers coming into London make an onward connection to Shan- tee

‘At the moment, the flights are good on a point to point basis, but the new schedule will bring about more suit- able times,” he predicted.

Council barriers cause disruption

THE case of four people charged in connection with a row outside Ennis Courthouse last month will be heard in September.

The four initially appeared before Ennis District Court on June 8 last, following a row earlier that day and re-appeared in court last Friday.

Inspector John Galvin, prosecut- ing, told the court on Friday that one of the accused, John McDonagh Jun- ior (21), of Nashes Boreen, Fairfield, Cork, is accused of damaging a car outside the courthouse, while three others are each facing a public order 8 Ko Neen

Judge Joseph Mangan asked, “Will

the State be saying this incident is part of a feud?”

Inspector Galvin replied, “Yes, it will be, but the property has nothing to do with it.”

Asked was the property caught in the crossfire, Inspector Galvin said, ‘The car was parked in the vicinity of the incident.”

Judge Mangan asked was the car in the wrong place at the wrong time and was told that it was. The judge said he would accept jurisdic- tion of the case in the district court. Inspector Galvin said it would take 90 minutes to hear the case, but the accuseds’ solicitor said it would be likely to take three hours. “We have a lot to say,” she said.

The case was adjourned until Sep- tember. The solicitor then asked for a relaxation of bail conditions, so that her clients could go on holidays during the summer. Judge Mangan said, “Bail conditions are bail con- ditions.” Inspector Galvin then said, “With the present circumstances, if these people were to leave the area it might cool the situation. However I’d like to know the dates they are going and the dates they are coming back.” The application was adjourned until later this week.

A TWO-WEEK jail term has been handed down to a woman was got involved in a scuffle at Ennis court- Ce) btstes

Mother-of-three Margaret McDon- agh (29), of Dun na hInise, Ennis, was charged with engaging in threat- ening, abusive or insulting behaviour at Ennis Courthouse on January 12 last. Ennis District Court heard that the accused was involved in ex- changes, described as “scuffling and shouting” at the courthouse.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client’s maiden name was Mongan and she has married a Mr McDonagh.

“Her parents house was burnt down in Shalee Drive. There was a lot of difficulty between them and

other families. My client spoke out. She shouldn’t have shouted. She shouldn’t have roared. She would maintain they had been under se- vere provocation all day. The entire Mongan family and who they were married to and their children upped sticks and left Ennis. They moved to Cork. They live in caravans on the side of the road. Their entire lives were turned upside down as a result of what had been ongoing. She was at the end of her tether,’ she said.

“She told the other side of this dispute exactly what she thought of them. Unfortunately it wasn’t in very nice English,” added the solicitor.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a 14-day prison sentence and directed the state to inform the HSE of the or- der. He fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.

Diesel spillage runs into trouble